I found Layers of Fear to be a rather shallow experience. Within the first hour or so, I was able to figure out the gist of its structure and where the story would lead. I simply could not see the possibility of there being any surprises for me and the repetitive nature of walking from one room to another made this a real chore.

It is becoming more apparent to me how important it is for the player to feel a connection to the protagonist in order to appreciate the story in these first person view games. As I felt no connection whatsoever, I wasn't too impressed with the story. Much of it can be gleaned from the first twenty minutes or so. The main character is a struggling artist, they have a poor relationship with their wife and alcohol, they probably did something terrible, and the game's scenario is a manifestation of their coming to terms with all of that.

The premise itself isn't necessarily bad, but its presentation is rather typical of first person horror/walking simulator games. There's reading material scattered about the place and the occasional voice over. It's stuff that we've seen many times already, much before this game's release date. Consider the Penumbra series as an example. Unlike those games, there is no immediate danger to the player in Layers of Fear, so the story and jump-scares are all that we're left with. As I know that there is nothing in the darkness that will hurt me, I can simply run through the pitch black, not caring and not feeling.

In addition to the uninteresting story, I also didn't get a good sense of the setting either. The house in which we're forced to stumble around for a few hours seems to suggest the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, but the puzzling choice of words in the writing doesn't appear to resemble anything from that era. 'Nightmare fuel' is a standout example of a phrase which does not belong and it suggests to me that the person who was responsible is heavily influenced by the writing styles of recent generations. There just doesn't seem to be any authenticity so I found this all very distracting.

As I didn't care much for the story, the 'layers' of the game gave way to what is essentially a very shoddy amusement park attraction with sporadic effects that you may-or-may-not even take any notice of. There were often times where I was looking around and somehow, my actions triggered what the developers probably intended to be a jump-scare. I certainly heard a loud noise or musical stinger, but because I was looking at some mundane feature in the room which had nothing to do with the sound, I was left feeling confused rather than scared.

At other times, it felt as though the developers went out of their way to undermine my efforts to inspect objects closely and soak in the atmosphere. I remember one instance in which I strained my eyes to read the plaque set into the frame of a painting, but before I could get a good look at it, the developers once again tried their very best to wow me with yet another jump-scare by making the painting disappear in a burst of loud noise and some cheap distortion effect. How annoying.

All of this adds to the shallowness of it all. Within Layers of Fear, we're all just making our way through a spook house with the occasional 'Boo!' and creepy music being looped endlessly. Some might say that every horror game boils down to this (I don't think so), but I argue that what separates the wheat from the chaff is how well the developers hide these elements, and their ability to make us forget that the horrific imagery and soundscapes are all just one big illusion.

If the subject matter of the story isn't disturbing or horrifying enough, as is the case with Layers of Fear, then other mechanics or situations must be implemented, such as the possibility that one may win or lose, live or die (and often in the most horrible of ways). This brings us to survival horror. Even games in this sub-genre which don't live up to the pedigree of say, Resident Evil or Silent Hill offer more than Layers of Fear because there is tension to be had from the possibility of severe consequences. Perhaps my tastes simply lean more towards survival horror. Unfortunately, Layers of Fear wasn't able to convince me that non-threatening, psychological horror makes for a worthy experience.

I would think that any self-respecting game developer would do everything they can to avoid presenting a horror game which feels contrived. When something comes across as being artificial, there's simply no way that you can elicit a genuine emotional reaction from the player, such as dread or fear of the unknown. I must emphasise that making attempts to startle people does not count as horror. Bloober Team SA relied too much on that and it is for this reason that I think Layers of Fear was just more fodder primarily designed for streamers. I find what they do during their performances to be forced and artificial as well.

This game reminds me of something silly that we used to do to each other at school. One child would ask another, 'Are you scared of a butterfly?', to which the other would reply, 'No'. Immediately after, we would clap our hands in the child's face to startle them, point, and shout, 'Haha, you blinked!' This stupid game or trick doesn't feel much different from Layers of Fear. It made me blink hard at certain times and confused or indifferent at others. Bloober Team SA probably intended for the name of their work to refer to the depths of the fear that the player may experience in this game. Suffice to say, I found this shallow approach to horror to be very much lacking in layers, and fear, for that matter.

I found [b] Layers of Fear [/b] to be a rather shallow experience. Within the first hour or so, I was able to figure out the gist of its structure and where the story would lead. I simply could not see the possibility of there being any surprises for me and the repetitive nature of walking from one room to another made this a real chore. It is becoming more apparent to me how important it is for the player to feel a connection to the protagonist in order to appreciate the story in these first person view games. As I felt no connection whatsoever, I wasn't too impressed with the story. Much of it can be gleaned from the first twenty minutes or so. The main character is a struggling artist, they have a poor relationship with their wife and alcohol, they probably did something terrible, and the game's scenario is a manifestation of their coming to terms with all of that. The premise itself isn't necessarily bad, but its presentation is rather typical of first person horror/walking simulator games. There's reading material scattered about the place and the occasional voice over. It's stuff that we've seen many times already, much before this game's release date. Consider the Penumbra series as an example. Unlike those games, there is no immediate danger to the player in [b] Layers of Fear[/b], so the story and jump-scares are all that we're left with. As I know that there is nothing in the darkness that will hurt me, I can simply run through the pitch black, not caring and not feeling. In addition to the uninteresting story, I also didn't get a good sense of the setting either. The house in which we're forced to stumble around for a few hours seems to suggest the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, but the puzzling choice of words in the writing doesn't appear to resemble anything from that era. 'Nightmare fuel' is a standout example of a phrase which does not belong and it suggests to me that the person who was responsible is heavily influenced by the writing styles of recent generations. There just doesn't seem to be any authenticity so I found this all very distracting. As I didn't care much for the story, the 'layers' of the game gave way to what is essentially a very shoddy amusement park attraction with sporadic effects that you may-or-may-not even take any notice of. There were often times where I was looking around and somehow, my actions triggered what the developers probably intended to be a jump-scare. I certainly heard a loud noise or musical stinger, but because I was looking at some mundane feature in the room which had nothing to do with the sound, I was left feeling confused rather than scared. At other times, it felt as though the developers went out of their way to undermine my efforts to inspect objects closely and soak in the atmosphere. I remember one instance in which I strained my eyes to read the plaque set into the frame of a painting, but before I could get a good look at it, the developers once again tried their very best to wow me with yet another jump-scare by making the painting disappear in a burst of loud noise and some cheap distortion effect. How annoying. All of this adds to the shallowness of it all. Within [b] Layers of Fear[/b], we're all just making our way through a spook house with the occasional 'Boo!' and creepy music being looped endlessly. Some might say that every horror game boils down to this (I don't think so), but I argue that what separates the wheat from the chaff is how well the developers hide these elements, and their ability to make us forget that the horrific imagery and soundscapes are all just one big illusion. If the subject matter of the story isn't disturbing or horrifying enough, as is the case with [b] Layers of Fear[/b], then other mechanics or situations must be implemented, such as the possibility that one may win or lose, live or die (and often in the most horrible of ways). This brings us to survival horror. Even games in this sub-genre which don't live up to the pedigree of say, Resident Evil or Silent Hill offer more than [b] Layers of Fear [/b] because there is tension to be had from the possibility of severe consequences. Perhaps my tastes simply lean more towards survival horror. Unfortunately, [b] Layers of Fear [/b] wasn't able to convince me that non-threatening, psychological horror makes for a worthy experience. I would think that any self-respecting game developer would do everything they can to avoid presenting a horror game which feels contrived. When something comes across as being artificial, there's simply no way that you can elicit a genuine emotional reaction from the player, such as dread or fear of the unknown. I must emphasise that making attempts to startle people does not count as horror. Bloober Team SA relied too much on that and it is for this reason that I think [b] Layers of Fear [/b] was just more fodder primarily designed for streamers. I find what they do during their performances to be forced and artificial as well. This game reminds me of something silly that we used to do to each other at school. One child would ask another, 'Are you scared of a butterfly?', to which the other would reply, 'No'. Immediately after, we would clap our hands in the child's face to startle them, point, and shout, 'Haha, you blinked!' This stupid game or trick doesn't feel much different from [b] Layers of Fear[/b]. It made me blink hard at certain times and confused or indifferent at others. Bloober Team SA probably intended for the name of their work to refer to the depths of the fear that the player may experience in this game. Suffice to say, I found this shallow approach to horror to be very much lacking in layers, and fear, for that matter.